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Hi all in the process of writing a storm trooper fandex, but not got much experience of making home brew rules, so just posting a few ideas I've had about guard vehicles to see if I've got a half decent eye for balance or not. Also got a few idea's for imperial weaponry to try improve internal balance (yes yet another post for the imperials, but that's where my experience lies).

The main reason for these changes is that I feel that there is little to differentiate the Taurox and chimera transports and while not the worst units in the game seem a little sub-par for their points after recent changes, that and guard seem to struggle with mobility especially in maelstrom games.


Chimera:
Keep the higher points cost than the previous edition but up the side armour to 12 so that it matches other chimera chassis vehicles. Yes it's a pretty substantial upgrade to durability but the fire point changes hit it pretty hard and while a lot cheaper than the comparably armoured wave serpent it lacks the advantages of the serpent shield and the skimmer rule. Wondering if the points cost should be increased slightly for this change.

Tauros:
While the chimera fills out the role of a more expensive transport with the durability to get to the objective and then have a chance at holding it, the taurox should be kept cheap but its mobility increased to allow different styles of play. I hope I'm right in understanding the effects of the fast rule, but including this rule to keep the basic taurox in theme with the prime will just have the effect of increasing its flat-out range with it only having a single gun or will it also allow the units it carries to fire with out snapshots after moving 12"?
On top of this I'd like to give it the option of trading in the autocannon for the open topped rule and a 2 man capacity increase, mainly for the Hanomag conversions but also to finally give guard an assault vehicle for ogryns, demo vets and straken.

Tauros Prime:
A cost reduction and some weapon tweaks could make this a reasonable option. Reduce the base cost by 15pts and give the missile launcher flakk munitions included to give scions some limited anti-air.


All vehicles:
Either make the augur array the same cost as a locator beacon or increase it's effectiveness. I'm tempted to say keep its cost but increase the no scatter range to 12" and include last scatter to make it a spotter vehicle, though this seems very power it is a pretty expensive upgrade that can be easily taken out, would be interested in thoughts on this.
Orders can be passed on to units in vehicles, always seemed strange that units in a transport that would likely have better coms than those on foot can't receive orders, would make mech lists a lot more effective, I'd keep its at only affecting the unit being carried rather than the transport in order to prevent it from making mechanised units too effective compared to their foot brethren, though I have had ideas for transport specific orders but that may cause too much confusion.


Interested in any feedback folk have as I have little experience in judging balanced and have got with my gut and rule of cool on a few of these.

ragnorack1 wrote:
Chimera:
Keep the higher points cost than the previous edition but up the side armour to 12 so that it matches other chimera chassis vehicles.

The only Chimera-chassis vehicle that has SA 12 is the Hellhound (and its variants). The Salamander, the various artillery vehicles, and the Trojan all have SA 10.

D'oh I stand corrected, the deathstrike has SA12 too but it looks like an exception rather than the rule. That makes sense from them being more of a light tank rather than APC I guess.

In that case being as it's not going to fit with chassis designs SA11 would be a possibility giving much better resistance to small arms fire with only the Tau and Necron basic weapons being able to glance them with out being them same as far more expensive transports.

I think the reason for the 12/10/10 is to balance its total AV value with the Rhino, which is 11/11/10.

I can't help but love the trusty Chimera. It's bobbled around a bit in price and utility since 5th, but it's still one of the best transports in the game.

The AV12 on the front makes it much more survivable than a Rhino... provided you aren't exposing the sides.
Coming stock with a Multilaser and Heavy Bolter/Heavy Flamer really lets it shine as an Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) rather than a simple APC.
While I certainly miss the 5 fire points of 6th, having 2 fire points is nothing to sneeze at. Plenty of transports don't get any fire points at all, after all.
12 capacity is often overlooked as a significant bonus. While I wouldn't always add an IC to a 10-man squad of Vets, the option to do so is nice.
Amphibious? Always fun to finally use in a game.

What I would like to see in the next iteration, however, are as follows:

3 fire points. We get three specials so it makes perfect sense. 5 was too many, 2 is too few, 3 is the Goldilocks zone.
Lasgun Arrays - either remove them or make them simpler: snap shots only and may always fire, regardless of contents.
Assault Door - either standard or an option to buy. Limited to allow transported units to charge provided the vehicle has not moved this turn.
Up-Armoring the sides - As mentioned, getting glanced to death by bolters on your side armor is painful. Ablative plating as a purchase to give it AV12/11/10.
Autocannon option for the turret weapon - 5 points. Nothing heavier than that. Lascannons don't belong on Chimerae.

DoW